No Mechanical Stress

Because waterjet cuts are made by a stress-free erosion process rather than sawing, punching, burning or contact tooling, materials do not incur mechanical stress. Brittle substances, dissimilar materials and compressible materials can be fabricated with waterjet when no other method will work.

Cool Processing

The water stream is inherently self-cooling. Temperatures in the cutting process do not rise significantly above ambient temperatures.

Optimal Use of Materials / Nesting

The waterjet stream ranges from .004" to .060" in diameter, which means that only small amounts of materials are removed. Because of the computer nested CAD-CAM process and the narrow kerf, CEC's processing allows exceptional usage of expensive materials such as titanium, composites and optical glass.

High Quality Edges / Intricate Cuts

Waterjet edges are clean and smooth with a sandblasted appearance. Usually waterjet edges are superior to edges made with laser, and are always better than acetylene torch or plasma arc edges. Because of the narrow kerf, complex and intricate cuts can be easily accomplished.

Edge quality in waterjet is a function of the pressure, abrasive flow, feed-rate and thickness of material. Photo of back side of sample shows edge quality declining with increasing feed rates. Customers should specify A, B or C edges.